This Old Church: Windows and Doors


This week, we continue our church renovation show by thinking about windows and doors.  Matthew 28:18-20 records that Jesus gave his followers a commission to go and make disciples of all nations.  The church was to both go outwards and to bring people in. 

Our mission is like our church's windows and doors.  Windows bring light, ventilation, and view.  We should subject all we do as a church to the light of our mission.  We should allow our mission to ventilate and refresh us.  We should also look out and view the needs of our community.

Doors allow people to come in and out.  We go out our doors to minister in Christ's name in our community.  We invite people into our community through our doors.

Our church's mission, vision and strategy statements reflect our need for windows and doors.  Our mission is to make disciples, united in worship and service.  This is our reason for being. 

Our vision is to embody Christ, loving all people, and introducing them to the God we love.  This is what we want our congregation to look like. 

Our strategy is to create entry points to our congregation, and train our members to invite people to them.  These entry points include traditional ones, like Sunday School and worship.  But they also include non-traditional ones like children and student ministries, mission projects, small groups, and more!

Creating new windows and doors can be hard work, but the results are rewarding, as we see more people become Christ followers!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Dynamite: The Battle Within

Image
"It was on fire when I lay down on it."  Robert Fulghum wrote about reading this statement in a small town newspaper.   Smoke was billowing from a second story window.  The Fire Department arrived, broke down the front door, ran up a set of stairs, and pulled a man off a burning bed.  Later, when they asked him how he got in that predicament, he said, "It was on fire when I lay down on it." Why on earth did he do that?  We don't know, but his story reveals a human truth.  We often do self-destructive things.  We testify, "People told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."  "I knew it was wrong, but I did it." The apostle Paul wrote about our human propensity to sin and self-destructive behavior in Romans 7:14-25.  Verse 15 sums up his point, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do."   He describes an intense inner battle.  On one side is the "flesh," his
Read more

God's Dynamite: More than Conquerors

Image
One person goes through a terrible experience and emerges from it stronger, more mature, and more loving.  Another goes through a similar experience and emerges from it weaker, less mature, and bitter.   What's the difference? I think it has to do with what's in the person's heart.  It has to do with his or her faith and perspective of life.   In Romans 8:35-39, the apostle Paul asked, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?''  Is there any person or place or experience that can remove us from Christ's loving presence?  Trouble? Hardship? Danger?  Sword? Paul could answer this question because he experienced all the above and more.  He said, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."  We conquer all these things through Christ's love for us. To be sure, we can have times when Christ's love seems far away from us. In the depths of suffering in times like these, we can won
Read more

God's Dynamite: Resurrection Transformation

Image
Easter is about more than you going to heaven.  That's part of it, but not near all!  It's about your death and resurrection. In Romans 6, Paul was answering opponents.  Those opponents said that if salvation is by God's grace through faith, then you have no motivation for righteous living and good works.  Why not sin more to get more grace? Paul answered by using the image of baptism.  He said when the pastor plunged you under water, he symbolized your death in Christ.  Through faith you died on the cross with Jesus.  Your old self was a slave to sin and rebellion against God.   Paul said when the pastor raised you up from the water, he symbolized your resurrection in Christ.  Not just in the future but in the present.  In faith, you identify with Jesus' death and his resurrection.  You're raised to a new life, free from slavery to sin. So Easter is about more than personal salvation.  It's about transformation: dying to an old life and ris
Read more